The Mother Of Invention

I had a frozen turkey. It was a 9 pounder (about 4 Kilos) which was left over from the holidays. Strange remnant of flesh, it sat like a rock in the freezer and interfered with my using the freezer compartment. So I decided to get rid of it.

So, I put it into the refrigerator compartment about a week ago to let it thaw. Yesterday I realized that it was fully thawed and if I didn't cook it soon, it would go bad and be inedible. For some stupid reason, I put the turkey into the oven at 9 PM.

I wasn't thinking. A roasted turkey takes approx. 15 minute per pound. A 9 pounder would take about two and a half hours to roast and then must cool before being refrigerated. With the turkey in the oven, it would take up to midnite or one A.M. before I could put the meat away and go to bed.

Not an option. I was tired.

So I tried something new. I set the temperature of the oven to 200° and went to bed. I figured that at 200°, the turkey wouldn't burn and as long as the temp of the meat went over 165° bacteria would be killed and the meat would cook. The temp was under boiling-point, the meat should stay moist. Then I went to sleep.

This morning, the heady smell of roasted turkey woke me. I got up and went to the kitchen, opened the oven and took out the turkey. I uncovered the roasting pan and was astounded to see a turkey cooked through and through and yet so tender that even the leg meat, the toughest meat, was cooked and ready to fall off the bone. The breast meat is moist, even the back meat is moist.

I'm gonna remember this technique. I think next time I'll cook it at 400° for an hour to finish... that way the skin will brown.

All in all... tasty.